BRITAIN:BELEAGUERED BRITISH prime minister Gordon Brown started his much-needed summer holiday yesterday amid reports of feverish behind-the-scenes plotting to persuade him to stand down or force him from office later this year.
Ministers attending Labour's policy forum in Warwick battled to steady the party's nerve following its spectacular defeat by the Scottish National Party in last Thursday's Glasgow East byelection. But Mr Brown suffered a fresh blow yesterday from an opinion survey giving David Cameron's Conservatives a 24-point lead in key marginal constituencies.
The Crosby/Textor poll followed earlier warnings from leading analysts that no party has come back from Labour's current low standing in the polls to win a subsequent general election.
Mr Brown and his aides had hoped to benefit from Barack Obama's magic when the Democratic presidential candidate visited Downing Street on Saturday. But despite their determination to talk about international issues, Mr Obama was obliged to offer reassurance when pressed about the prime minister's troubles. "You're always more popular before you're actually in charge of things," said Mr Obama. "Once you're responsible, then you're going to make some people unhappy." The painful reality of that from Labour's current perspective was reflected by Labour MP Ian Gibson. "We need our Obama and we haven't got one, and that is sad," he said.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman led yesterday's ministerial rally behind the prime minister, asserting that the global turndown and cost-of-living issues were responsible for Labour's defeat in Glasgow. Insisting that Mr Brown was the man with the necessary experience and international influence to lead Britain through its economic problems, Ms Harman said Labour MPs would be "wrong to respond to a very big economic challenge by turning it into a political crisis".
But the political crisis threatening around Mr Brown's leadership was spelt out with brutal clarity in editorials over the weekend in two Labour-supporting newspapers. While concluding that "the risk of change still outweighs the gains", Saturday's Guardianmade chilling reading for Labour MPs anxious about their own survival.
"For Gordon Brown, the future is more certain than it might seem," the leading article opened. "Whatever happens this summer, his premiership is likely to come to an end within two years."
Yesterday's Observer, meanwhile, said the very assertion that Labour was experiencing a midterm malaise was itself an acknowledgement that last year's "renewal in office" project - replacing Tony Blair with Mr Brown - had failed. Finding it "extraordinary" that a man with such an impressive career, dedicated to public service in fulfilment of high ideals, "should seem so alienated from the nation he has aspired to lead", the paper suggested Mr Brown might have little time left to find the necessary words and actions to persuade British voters to judge him afresh. "For what is at stake is more than just his own career. It is the prospect of Labour continuing to function as an effective force in British politics. If he cannot find the necessary inspiration, he should stand aside for someone who can."
Justice secretary Jack Straw was obliged to issue a statement supporting Mr Brown following reports suggesting he might see himself as the man to replace the prime minister.
Several newspapers reported that former minister George Howarth, a close ally of Mr Straw, was canvassing support on his behalf for a possible move against Mr Brown in the autumn.
Mr Howarth admitted his concerns about Mr Brown's leadership while telling the Sunday Timeshe was not acting on Mr Straw's behalf. "Jack is not up to anything. If anyone thinks I am collecting names for him, they are mistaken," he maintained.
In his first statement since the Glasgow byelection, Mr Straw said: "I am absolutely convinced that Gordon Brown is the right man to be leading the Labour Party. I was convinced of that when I was his campaign manager last year and nothing that has happened since has changed that view. The result in Glasgow East was obviously disappointing, but it would be a big mistake for the Labour Party to now turn in on itself and indulge in a summer of introspection.
"Gordon Brown is the best leader to lead us through these tough times. He has done so before and he will do so again."